Pages tagged Surveillance

The line between liberty and security continues to blur, as news such as Greenwald’s revelations in the Intercept about NSA surveillance and the FBI’s counterterrorism practices emerge every few weeks. We only need to look at the latest AAI Poll on American Attitudes Toward Arabs and Muslims to understand why these practices continue without much outcry.

By Jad Ireifej Summer Intern, 2014 AAI was a signee on a letter that encouraged top members of the Senate to swiftly pass the unadulterated form of the USA Freedom Act that was presented Tuesday. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt), the Senate Judiciary Chair, unveiled the Freedom Act and the bill will lead to stricter surveillance restrictions, if passed.

This year, the annual White House Iftar was once again not without controversy. Normally a time to celebrate faith and community (as AAI did in our offices the following evening), this year’s White House Iftar was plagued by politics.

We told you last week to expect some big news from Glenn Greenwald, who broke many of the Edward Snowden stories. Here we are, just after celebrating the 4th of July, with some new revelations from Greenwald that show major infringements of our civil liberties and basic rights.

WASHINGTON — An online magazine reported Wednesday that the National Security Agency and the FBI covertly scanned the emails of five prominent Muslim-Americans under the U.S. government’s secret surveillance program aimed at foreign terrorists and other national security threats.

The report in The Intercept, a venture by journalist Glenn Greenwald, said the targets included an attorney, a Republican political operative, a university professor and two civil rights activists. The Intercept said all five denied any involvement in terrorism or espionage and had not been accused of any crimes. The magazine questioned whether the government obtained legal permission...

WASHINGTON — An online magazine reported Wednesday that the National Security Agency and the FBI covertly scanned the emails of five prominent Muslim-Americans under the U.S. government’s secret surveillance program aimed at foreign terrorists and other national security threats.

The report in The Intercept, a venture by journalist Glenn Greenwald, said the targets included an attorney, a Republican political operative, a university professor and two civil rights activists. The Intercept said all five denied any involvement in terrorism or espionage and had not been accused of any crimes. The magazine questioned whether the government obtained legal permission...

According to a news report from Glenn Greenwald and Murtaza Hussain at The Intercept, our government has been spying on American citizens. In the most specific claim yet of the federal government’s domestic surveillance program, the National Security Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigations have been monitoring the email communication of around 202 “U.S. Persons,” including the five American Muslims highlighted by The Intercept..

Throughout the past few weeks, Israel has accused Hamas of the kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers and has retaliated by conducting the largest military operation in the West Bank since the second intifada. On Monday, the bodies of the three abducted Israeli teenagers were found in a field in Hebron. “Off the deep end” and “unprecedented,” Israel’s retaliation, which includes over 34 airstrikes in Gaza, has left 13 Palestinians dead and counting, more than 400 Palestinians imprisoned, and numerous buildings and homes destroyed.

When Rep. Conyers (D-MI) introduced the End Racial Profiling Act (ERPA) in June 2001, no one could predict what was to come a few short months later. The events of 9/11 have affected American life in tremendous and frequently underestimated ways; the fate of ERPA was bound to be tied up in the national debate about striking the right balance between civil rights and civil liberties.